The backlash has been mounting for nearly a decade now. Just consider that Donald Trump, who was elected in 2016, was about, among other things, there being a political rebuttal to commiewokester garbage. After him, they increased their heavy-handedness. You should not view their heavy-handedness as a sign of strength, but of weakness, since they lie about how heavy-handed they are. They want to be perceived as legitimate, not as dictators, yet in order to get shit done they still need to be dictatorial. This tension means that every time they do dictatorial things, they deduct from their social capital. They don’t add to it.